Hair Issues: baldness

Pattern balding

Pattern balding is related to your genes and sex hormones. Male pattern baldness (androgenic alopecia) usually follows a pattern of receding hairline and hair thinning on the crown, and is caused by hormones and genetic predisposition.
The reason for the less common female pattern baldness (which is also called ‘androgenic alopecia’) is not well understood, but may be related to aging, changes in the levels of androgens (male hormones) after menopause, and family history of male or female pattern baldness.

Patchy baldness

Patchy baldness is otherwise known as alopecia areata. It is a common autoimmune disease that can affect any hair-bearing area of the body, and its cause is not fully understood.
This type of baldness can appear as a single, well defined patch of hair loss, loss of eyelashes or eyebrows, many patches, or extensive hair loss in the form of total loss of scalp hair (alopecia totalis) or loss of entire scalp and body hair (alopecia universalis). Patients with extensive baldness may choose to wear scalp prostheses, such as wigs or hairpieces.

Complete baldness

Complete loss of hair on the scalp is known as alopecia areata totalis. Alopecia acreata universalis is the rarest form of alopecia areata and involves the loss of all body hair including eyelashes, underarms and eyebrows.